Item Specification: The Altairian DollarCopy Anchor Link

"Ford wished that a flying saucer would arrive soon because he knew how to flag flying saucers down and get lifts from them. He knew how to see the Marvels of the Universe for less than thirty Altairian dollars a day."

— The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Chapter 1

The Altairian Dollar is one of the most widely recognized, traded, and periodically devalued legal tenders in the known Galaxy. Minted originally by the Grand Banking Cartels of the Altair system, it serves as the baseline benchmark currency against which cosmic trade, interstellar freight tariffs, and Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters are priced.

The Thirty-Dollar Daily RuleCopy Anchor Link

The cornerstone of interstellar hitchhiking philosophy is seeing the marvels of the Universe for less than thirty Altairian dollars a day:

• Transit & The Dentrassi Loophole: By flagging down long-haul starships using an Electronic Thumb—and knowing practical field-research loopholes such as the fact that Vogon Constructor Fleets employ Dentrassi cooks who love Vogon money (itself one of the hardest currencies in space) but loathe the Vogons and will always help hitchhikers aboard to annoy them—an impoverished hitchhiker can cross the Galaxy for virtually nothing.
• Provisions: Twenty-four Altairian dollars will easily purchase two pints of bitter, a packet of roasted nuts, a synthetic sandwich from an automated depot, and a clean towel washing token.
• Discretionary Spending: The remaining six dollars are traditionally reserved for emergency telephone calls, tip jars at Milliways, or bribes for municipal bypass clerks.

Interstellar Exchange Rates & Financial HazardsCopy Anchor Link

• The Recent Collapse: Economists on Ursa Minor Beta note that the Altairian Dollar has recently suffered a catastrophic currency collapse, though as usual, nobody has bothered to notify the automated banking satellites orbiting the Galactic Core.
• Comparative Currencies:
  1. The Flanian Pobble Bead: Only exchangeable for other Flanian Pobble Beads, creating an economy that is delightfully stable and completely useless.
  2. The Triganic Pu: A three-sided magnetic coin whose value fluctuates in direct proportion to how many people are currently trying to spend it.
  3. The Ningi: A triangular rubber coin six thousand eight hundred miles across each edge, rendering cash transactions physically catastrophic for local planetary crusts.

Galactic Purchasing PowerCopy Anchor Link

In normal galactic ports:

• 1 Altairian Dollar: One cup of Nutrimatic tea (regrettably).
• 5 Altairian Dollars: A battered second-hand paperback edition of Fifty-Three More Things to do in Zero Gravity.
• 30 Altairian Dollars: One full day of cosmic adventuring across the Western Spiral Arm.
• 1,000,000 Altairian Dollars: A private custom planet built by the Magratheans (plus additional delivery fees for Norwegian fjords).